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July 17, 2009

IT'S FRIDAY, MY FAVORITE DAY!!

Gee Whiz, it's the middle of July already!! The summer has been here for almost a month and it seems like yesterday. There is always so much to do during the summer, I think that is why time goes by faster.

As I mentioned last week, we went into Salem to the Marion County Fair last Friday and watched Ashtin herd her pig around in front of the judge. She did really well for it being her first time and won a blue ribbon for showmanship. Now that she knows what is expected, I think she will be a little more prepared next year. They auctioned off her pig on Saturday night and she made about $775 for her efforts. Part of that money will be saved for a trip to Washington D.C. when she gets into the seventh grade in a couple of years. Now that her pigs are all gone the reality has hit home and she was a little sad about losing them. I think it would be really hard to do myself.

We came back home from the fair that afternoon, as everyone had to hang around the grounds for most of the day and then return early the next morning. We were expecting my cousin and his wife and sister to drop by this weekend as they have been camping down at the beach. They arrived early Sunday afternoon and we had a real nice visit and since they had never been here before, we showed them around the place. They were planning on driving down south to Bandon to spend the rest of their vacation.

I had also invited Des and Donna up for dinner on Sunday evening. They have been gone for about ten days and we have been trying to catch up with each other for the past month. It was a good visit with them too. Des has been trying to catch up on all his projects that he fell behind on while they were gone. As a result, he's been working 12 and 14 hours a day on the place and by the time they got here, he was pooped. We introduced Donna to the Wii and Des fell asleep in the recliner! Still, it was fun to visit, as they've been gone one place or another most of the winter and spring.

We had to get ready for our trip to Siltcoos Lake on Monday. We were going to meet a bunch of folks and spend the week steamboating on the lake. We rented a cabin with a kitchen so I had to plan on taking a few things for breakfast and lunch. The evening meals were a group potluck, so I had to figure out what to bring for all that. Then there was packing all the clothes. I always bring waaay too many things to wear. I guess it is better to be prepared. So, between company on Sunday and getting ready for this trip, we finally pulled out late Monday morning for our 4-hour trip down Highway 101.

We got to Siltcoos Lake around 4:00 and everyone else was there already. We got settled into our cabin and launched the boat. After we got her steamed up and we took her for a ride on the lake, Dave discovered that something had jarred loose on our road trip down. He spent a lot of time figuring out the problem and managed to temporarily fix it. Even after the fix, the boat was not running up to speed when we took it for a spin around our end of the lake. So we ended up leaving her tied to the dock on the second day and bummed a ride off one of the other boats. This seems to be happening all the time with us!

In spite of the early morning fog and the strong winds that come up in the afternoons on the lake, we did manage to get in a little boating in at late morning. We enjoyed visiting with everyone and are already planning to come back next year. After helping everyone get their boats out of the lake, we left on Thursday morning and arrived back home in the afternoon. The weather has turned warm so I spent the rest of the day watering my plants and garden.

Dave will leave today to announce at the NASCAR races in Portland and will return on Sunday evening. I decided not to go in with him and have made plans with Donna to go see the new Harry Potter movie tonight. Actually, we'll spend the day shopping and finish up with the movie.

We don't have a lot planned next week. We'll take care of the little problems we had with the boat and then launch here in the river and Dave will have cataract surgery on his other eye on Thursday, so that's about as exciting as it's going to get around here!